DA Daily

Education Secretary Arne Duncan and his successors would be relegated to cheerleaders for the nation's schools, and governors would be put in charge of classrooms under companion bills Senate and House Republicans introduced Thursday.

The district's new enrollment figure may be inflated, as administrators at some closing schools said that because they were under pressure to get children signed up, they went ahead and enrolled students whose parents could not be contacted.

President Obama has called on the Federal Communications Commission to expand an existing program to provide discounted high-speed Internet service to schools and libraries, even if it means increasing the fees that for years had been added to consumers’ phone bills.

Across the country, the school year is drawing to a close. Students are taking tests and packing up their backpacks. They are counting down, as they always do, to the last day of class. Though no comparable countdown exists, what is also drawing to a close is the analog era of education.

Raleigh Public school students take too many tests, Gov. Pat McCrory told education leaders Wednesday, and the state needs to figure out how to lighten the load. During a meeting with the State Board of Education, McCrory said he has instructed his new senior education adviser, Eric Guckian, to identify which tests are unnecessary and report back by the end of the summer.

Districts are trading print for digital textbooks, with 22 states making significant digital content policy changes in recent years—altering the definition of a textbook and encouraging flexible funding.